Former Parker Pen Director joins EMC

Former Parker Pen Director Steve Beaumont has joined EMC Management Consultants to work as a hands-on advisor to SMEs in Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

Steve will work out of EMC’s Eastbourne office, taking on interim executive management roles, mentoring owner-managers and carrying out business reviews and strategic planning.

Much of Steve’s career has been built around his core competence of finance. He was appointed Finance Director of Newhaven-based Parker Pen UK at the age of 28 and, over the next 21 years, went on to hold several senior management positions including Director & General Manager, Group Marketing Director and, ultimately, Managing Director of Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East and India for Gillette which had acquired Parker Pen in 1993.

Following the sale of Gillette’s stationery products group in 2000, Steve headed up the newly-formed European group for Sanford, a division of Newell Rubbermaid, responsible for a pan-European operating unit with 15 brands and annual sales of more than $400m.

After a spell as MD of a specialist manufacturer of bath and shower equipment, grooming the business for sale, he became CEO of a USA public company operating TV over the internet where he built sales from $1m to $8m in 15 months, raised $8m in new funding and saw the share price leap from $0.50 to $1.20. This led to him being appointed MD for an internet-focussed American investment fund with full control of all its European investigations and negotiations.

Immediately prior to joining EMC, he worked as CEO with a UK digital media company, helping to secure second-round financing for the start-up which led to the business being acquired by a US group for $17m.

EMC chief executive Nik  Askaroff said: “Steve has a wealth of experience of running businesses of all sizes across many different sectors and geographies. His knowledge and expertise will be invaluable to our clients as they prepare to ride out some of the most difficult economic conditions many of them will have experienced.”

Steve, who lives in Brighton, added: “EMC has a terrific reputation for embedding their people into businesses, providing hard-pressed owner-managers with highly skilled and experienced pairs of hands. I like the fact that they tend to build long-term relationships with their clients, giving tremendous continuity of advice and support.

“I’m really looking forward to working with the other EMC team members, who embrace the full range of management disciplines, to help businesses of all types and sizes.”

For more information please contact David Bosley Tel: 01424 732904 or Steve Beaumont Tel: 07764 142926

3 December 2008